


jolly holiday

by ghibliterritory



Category: Heroes (TV)
Genre: also Peter's bday is the 23rd fun fact, if you can guess the other person in the library you get a candy cane, it's coming up and i wanted to do something for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 13:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17060936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghibliterritory/pseuds/ghibliterritory
Summary: The holiday's are coming up. So, what does Peter do?Study, naturally.





	jolly holiday

Winter was a weird time of year for Peter Petrelli.

 

In his youth, it had been a time of a weird empty house- bright, but tense, with his family always getting uptight during the holidays. As he got older, it meant extra work and studying, readying himself for tests and the stress of the New Year. But, in his first year of college? It wasn’t really either.

 

Okay, maybe there was still the school stress, but it wasn’t as bad. Most of his finals had been shoved in the space right before his school had let out for break. The main weirdness was the whole… lack of spirit he was feeling, especially as he got closer to Christmas.

 

It also didn’t help that his stupid birthday was two days before the jolly holiday.

 

Or that on this particular day- which was his birthday, as a matter of fact- the only stress he had during winter was the most pressing one. Peter had decided to stay on campus over the holiday, to avoid his mother’s drinking and father’s tense behavior for at least a few days. And, of course, he took this opportunity to better himself. He’d spent the past three days holed up in his dorm, writing papers and looking at scratchy flash cards. It had been a lot of information to shove into his brain. Peter didn’t help himself by spending a whole day in the library, right before Christmas Eve.

 

He was at least being productive, he had argued to himself. The whole day had so far been used to catch up on notes for the next semester's classes- and by catch up, he meant take notes on subjects he wasn’t even taking yet.

 

Calling him an overachiever was… an understatement.

 

Naturally, Peter got lost in all the text and writing. He zoned out almost completely, opening textbook after textbook. Words ingrained into his thoughts faster than he could blink, and he swore that he could instantly tell you all the causes of the French Revolution without thinking about it. He was on his last textbook, reading the many paragraphs with ease, when a loud bang of books falling onto his table snapped him out of his daze.

 

“The library is closing.”

 

Peter blinked, still a bit shaken by the sudden disruption, and looked up. Standing beside him, a man roughly around his age was almost glaring at him. His glasses were perched right at the top of his nose, and he could see the fluorescent lights gleam in their reflection.

 

“Sorry, I… Yeah. Okay.” Peter muttered. He stood and gathered up his notes, curling them up and shoving them into his bag. “Just, you know, catching up on homework before the new semester. Gotta get those grades up, you know?”

 

The man hummed in dissatisfaction. Clearly, he was not easy to please. Not like it even bothered Peter, really. He doubted he’d ever see this guy again. “Right. Well. Have a good one.” He gave a short, polite nod, and quickly left the library. In all his years of dealing with obscene awkwardness on his end, that  _ had _ to be the worst interaction of his college experience so far. The guy didn’t even smile. Peter shrugged it off, though, trying not to let it bug him. Bad interactions happen, it wasn’t his fault.

 

God, he hoped not, at least.

 

The walk back to his dorm was short and boring, and Peter felt an odd sense of relief flood through him when he shut the door. His roommate was long gone, leaving for his parent’s house as soon as the break started. Peter was relieved. It was just him, his room, and…

 

Peter paused. From the corner of his eye, he saw a light on his desk. He turned and gently tip-toed over, part of him ready to hit anyone who popped out. Thankfully, that wasn’t necessary. Reaching his desk, Peter only saw an electric birthday candle, sticking out of a small, rather awful looking cupcake. He furrowed his brow- his roommate couldn’t have left that. He was miles away. 

 

Gently, he picked it up turning the cupcake in his hands. It smelled nice- and it was colorful, decorated in white and green frosting- he took a guess that it was store bought, judging by the holiday look of it. Looking down at where it was, Peter noticed a little card, fallen over and kind of greasy. He set his bag down at his feet and picked it up, reading it in the dim light.

 

_ ‘Pete, _

 

_ I can’t lie, it’s very weird to imagine you at college. I never got the impression that you’d be into all the stuffy school work and serious adult life when you were younger. But here you are, nineteen and supporting yourself! We’re all proud of you, Peter. I’m especially proud. Don’t work yourself up too much today- you deserve a break. Happy birthday. _

 

__ Nathan’ _ _

 

 

Peter smiled, running his thumb over the card. He’d forgotten that he let Nathan know where the spare key even was. He set the card and cupcake back down, only ignoring them for a few minutes to quickly shower and turn some freakin’ lights on. But, once he was settled, he replaced the fake candle with a real one, watching the flames flicker.

 

He’d had a lot of birthdays. Some good, some bad, and some in the middle. This was somewhere in the latter area. Peter leaned forward, feeling his eyes sting from the heat of the small flame.

 

“Happy birthday to me.”

 

Peter thought of a wish, focusing all his energy on it, before blowing out the candle.


End file.
